SEMI Releases Additional Intellectual Property Survey Information

SEMI
Releases Additional Intellectual Property Survey Information

By Jamie
Girard, senior director, SEMI Americas Public Policy

Infringement
on Intellectual Property (IP) continues to be a concern across the
semiconductor industry supply chain.
SEMI has worked to understand the problems that member companies
encounter by conducting a series of surveys to hear directly from members. The SEMI 2012 IP Survey was originally
released in March 2012, and detailed the continuing struggle that companies face
in protecting IP rights globally. In
fact, 97 percent of respondents considered IP challenges as “somewhat serious”
to “extremely serious,” while the remaining three percent characterized the
challenges as “not serious.”

As a follow
up to this survey, SEMI also polled it members to gather additional information
regarding some of the challenges they face in protecting their IP in a real world
setting. While the original survey
numbers detail the overall scope of the problem, it was decided that some
anecdotal information would lend a fuller picture of the global IP
environment. With SEMI member companies
investing an average of 10-15 percent of their revenues annually back into
research and development, the loss of IP is too expensive to ignore. The
revised IP survey with the additional results can be downloaded at: www.semi.org/en/2012IPWhitePaper

The anecdotal
survey asked respondents eight open-ended questions regarding potential areas
of IP infringement that may not be so “black and white. In response to a question on whether or not
members have felt pressured by customers to “give away” IP, respondents cited
multiple instances in which they were compelled to release guarded information in order to maintain relationships with
customers or mitigate the loss of business altogether. Respondents also detailed other ways in which
they lose IP, such as employees failing to follow best practices to safeguard
proprietary information. The survey responses also help to detail some
important ways in which companies can work best practices into their systems to
prioritize IP protections.

The anecdotal
information also helps to highlight the underlying IP survey by providing additional
insight on some of the challenges that U.S. based companies face when doing
business abroad. Whether we are talking
about foreign governments or their justice systems, it is certainly apparent
that much work remains to be done in helping these institutions understand the
importance of IP protection and the adverse effects that IP infringement can
have on their economies. When asked, “Has
your company ever declined to invest resources in a country because of concern
over potential loss of IP,” a respondent said it all in a one-word answer:
“Absolutely.”

Because of
these ongoing challenges, SEMI continues an active industry advocacy program to
promote intellectual property rights. In
addition to the IP position statement approved by the SEMI International Board
of Directors in 2006, all SEMI member companies are required to commit to an IP
statement of principles as part of their association membership. Our continuing outreach activities include
meetings with government officials in several regions to build on recent
efforts in Taiwan, Korea, and the United States. In addition, SEMI is working to forge a
stronger relationship with its customers to create more total supply chain
support for IP rights.

Companies interested
in SEMI’s IP activities are encouraged to check out the SEMI IP webpage at www.semi.org/ip. To get involved, you may contact Jamie
Girard, senior director, Public Policy, at jgirard@semi.org.